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    The Veil
    The Veil
    The Veil
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Veil

    Written by Chloe Neill

    Narrated by Amy Landon

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Claire Connolly is a good girl with a dangerous secret: She's a Sensitive, a human endowed with magic that seeped through the Veil. Claire knows that revealing her skills would mean being confined to Devil's Isle. Unfortunately, hiding her power has left her untrained and unfocused.

    Liam Quinn knows from experience that magic makes monsters of the weak, and he has no time for a Sensitive with no control of her own strength. But when he sees Claire using her powers to save a human under attack-in full view of the French Quarter-Liam decides to bring her to Devil's Isle and the teacher she needs, even though getting her out of his way isn't the same as keeping her out of his head.

    As more and more Sensitives fall prey to their magic and unleash their hunger on the city, Claire and Liam must work together to save New Orleans, or else the city will burn.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateAug 4, 2015
    ISBN9781494577247
    The Veil

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    Reviews for The Veil

    3.5/5

    107 ratings18 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This was my first Chloe Neill book. I’ve heard loads about this author, but I’ve never managed to catch her at the beginning of a series. I love paranormal. While it’s not my go-to genre, when I come across a good paranormal book (series or not) it makes me happy.I’m glad I decided to give Chloe a chance. While there was nothing in this book that wowed me, or stood out from others alike, I did enjoy it. The characters are strong, and there wasn’t really one that I didn’t like or felt needed anymore development than they were given (since it’s a series and all). The story is told in Claire’s POV, but none of the others are left out; you get a clear understanding of all the characters. It’s a very well executed first person. And thank Liam, because as I’ve stated many times before, first person is not my favorite.It was easy to read and everything was very understandable. I thought the pace was a bit slow, but it is the first book, and there is character development, and build, and past lead. Now that I think about it, I guess it wasn’t too slow.I can only give it three stars, because I didn’t love it, however, I will keep up with this series. I am officially a “Devil’s Isle” reader.
    • 4/5
      Times have changed in New Orleans. Seven years ago the Veil that separated Earth from paranormals broke and paranormals stormed through with the goal of conquering Earth. New Orleans was ground zero but battles extended through much of the South. The government with the assistance of some human magic users managed to reseal the Veil stranding some paranormals on this side. Containment has set up a prison in New Orleans called Devil's Isle to sequester paranormals and Sensitives - humans who can use magic.Claire is 24 and a fourth generation citizen of New Orleans. Her great-grandfather began Royal Merchandise which was an antique store in good time but which now sells MREs, batteries, duct tape and other goods the remaining citizens of New Orleans needs. Claire has also recently learned that she is a Sensitive with a small gift for telekinesis and is desperate to keep the information from Containment. If she doesn't learn how to deal with her magic, she can turn into a Wraith.However, when she uses her magic to help save a young woman from Wraiths, her cover is blown. Liam Quinn discovers her. He is a bounty hunter who hunts Wraiths. A wraith killed his younger sister. Liam helps Claire by finding a teacher for her so that she can learn to deal with magic is such a way as to not turn into a Wraith. He takes her into Devil's Isle where she learns that all paranormals aren't evil. This is quite a change in her world view. Soon she gets involved in a movement that wants to get Containment to realize that all Sensitives can learn to use their magic and, therefore, not turn into Wraiths. She also learns that someone is trying to reopen the Veil which could further devastate New Orleans and all who live there. There is the beginning of a romance between Liam and Clare complicated by Liam's fear that Claire will someday turn Wraith and that he will be forced to hunt her and take her to Devil's Isle. Liam does admire Claire. He calls her "recklessly brave." I liked the world building in this story and I liked the way Claire grew and changed. I can't wait to see where this series goes next.
    • 4/5
      The first book in a new series by the author who writes the Chicagoland Vampires series, one of my favorite go-to UF series for snark and entertaining characters, The Veil started off slowly - so slowly I was a bit worried I was in for a let-down. Seven years ago, the Veil that separates humanity from what lies beyond was torn apart, and New Orleans was engulfed in a supernatural war. Now, those with paranormal powers have been confined in a walled community called Devil's Isle. Claire is a human but 7 months before the story begins she discovers she's a Sensitive and is absorbing magic. Her need to keep this a secret is overcome one night when she sees a girl being attacked by wraiths and uses her magic to save her. Liam is a bounty hunter who witnesses Claire's use of magic and offers to help her destroy the evidence and get her training to use and control her magic, so she doesn't become a wraith herself. Things didn't pick up for me until the end of the chapter 4. There was just too much time spend in Claire's head up to this point. It works, because I ended up with the post-war scene quite clearly created in my head, as well as a strong sense of the melancholy, struggles and determination of NOLA's residents, but it was slow and it was boring. Once chapter 5 started, I started to get interested. Things started to happen. I like Clair and Liam and especially liked the slow build-up of snarky dialogue between them as they got to know each other better. No romance in this one, although some near misses; it seems we're in for a slow burn between these two before anyone gets lucky. Overall, I was satisfied with the story; the slow start and a few editing errors that should have been caught brought the rating down. (on page 188, Liam leaves the truck running because he may not be able to re-start it. In the next paragraph, when he leaves the truck door open, Claire muses that it hardly matters because a wraith couldn't hot-wire a vehicle. If the truck was left running, why would anyone need to hot-wire it?) But I am looking forward to the next book and finding out more about the characters in Delta and seeing what happens next.
    • 4/5
      Post war New Orleans is not the place everyone goes to since the Veil between our world and the Fae broke. Claire is running anantiques and everyday sundry shop after the death of her father during the war. With the Veil closed for now every human that shows paranormal powers is sent to the District to live with the rest of the invading troops. Humans that can use magic are called Sensitives and if they go into a magical overload they become wraiths [that attack humans]. Claire has recently developed telekinetic power and has been hiding it but gets caught using it to save herself during a wraith attack. She is seen by Liam, a bounty hunter who collects wraiths and takes them to the District. Liam helps Claire hide her powers and also finds her a magical tutor. Of course this is just the set up of the book and the world building in this setting is great. New Orleans comes across as a much smaller tight knit community taking care of each other and trying to make things better even if they are still living in an area classified as a war zone even if the war is over.

      I’ll be reading the next one when it comes out and I may have to pick up some more books by her as well.

      Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
    • 4/5
      So this was a good story and a totally different look at magic
    • 3/5
      Claire lives in a post-paranormal-war New Orleans, running her family's store as best she can, spending time with her friends. and hiding from them that she's recently discovered she's a Sensitive--a human who gained magical when the Veil came down. The human body isn't made to handle magic and sooner or later Sensitives devolve into a zombie-like creature, attacking and killing humans. Sensitives, like the paranormals who came through the veil, are imprisoned at Devil's Isle for the public good.

      The day Claire helps a woman being attacked by paranormals and accidentally uses her power on camera is the day she thought she'd have to leave New Orleans. It's also the day she met Liam Quinn, who instead of taking her to Devil's Isle to collect his bounty introduced her to a world of magic she didn't know existed.

      I think Chloe Neill has a knack for creating great groups of friends for her characters, and that occurs in this book, too. And it was really great to see a character with a secret like Claire's get sick of the subterfuge and just tell her friends what's going on so they could help her.

      I'll be here for another book in this series.

      [I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
    • 4/5
      Having enjoyed this author's Chicagoland Vampire series, I thought I'd see what else she'd written. She's offering a unique view of faeries, goblins, and other mythical creatures, as well as people who sense them and such. Interesting, also, the magic system she built for this world.I forget that this is a romance writer who's writing urban fiction sometimes. All her characters are attractive. Not a fugly one in the bunch. And who falls for what character is kinda obvious from the way she writes. Whoops, scratch that. Have a Gay character that throws off the expectations. Good twist there, Author. Didn't see that happening.The narrator doesn't really alter her voice much when it comes to different characters. All the men sound the same, all the women sound the same. Makes it a little harder to follow. Especially when multiple of the same gender are talking back to back. I realize this wasn't the author's intent, but I swear some of what she's writing is a mirror to modern times, regarding modern race relations. With the way the news goes, it's hard to keep from letting part of this story bleed into that political bent. Oh look, an evil government contractor is going rogue and trying to bring back the war to make money off it. That feels like a common story line in modern books...This is an interesting and unique take, enough to make me interested in checking into the next book. It could use a little better characterization and a better narrator, but still good.
    • 4/5
      Claire Connolly survived the otherworld invasion of the Earth and has been surviving the post-invasion New Orleans, she sells MREs and antiques and tries to keep her secrets secret, particularly as she's one of the people who have abilities apparently triggered by the invasion and they're kept in a holding place, and she wants none of that. Liam Quinn is a hunter but he's interested in her and he doesn't want her to end up a mindless victim of magic. The two of them will have to work together to save the world.I enjoyed it, the relationship between the two main characters wasn't very strong but it's in it's infant stages and if they don't get together it won't be terrible (sometimes I wish there were a few stories where people could just be friends) It was interesting to see how they managed to cope with the power and how power had consequences.
    • 4/5
      Good first start to a series.
    • 3/5
      I have read and enjoyed Neill’s Chicagoland Vampire series so I was excited to hear about her new Devil’s Isle series. It sounded like an interesting premise and I always enjoy storylines involving fey. It ended up being an okay book but not great. For some reason the story just seemed a little tired and boring to me.I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was okay. Some of the male voices were stiff and cold sounding, especially Liam’s voice. I had a hard time telling if it was the speech patterns and/or writing that made Liam sound stiff and cold, or if it was the narration. Either way this wasn’t my favorite audiobook but it was okay.I thought the idea of the Veil was incredibly interesting. Claire is okay as a character, but I wasn’t totally engaged with her...she was just a bit too vanilla even with her Sensitive abilities. Liam was also an okay character but I never engaged with him all that well either; he was just so distant and cold. The world is intriguing. Basically the people in this book have decided to stay in New Orleans despite the post-apocalyptic lifestyle to the area. While I found this interesting I also had a lot of trouble finding it believable and viable. I mean if the rest of the country had food, supplies, and technology why would sequester yourself in this little pocket of poverty and sparsity? I didn’t get it and thought it was weird how isolated the story was; we really don’t have a good idea what’s happening in the world outside New Orleans. Additionally I am not a huge fan of New Orleans personally, so I wasn’t crazy about the story being set there. I do understand that this is probably meant to echo New Orleans post-Katrina struggles, but I just didn’t dig it.Overall this was an okay book but not great. I liked the idea of the Veil but didn’t find the world or characters all that engaging or interesting. There is quite a bit of action in this book but somehow it still felt tired and boring to me. I won’t be reading future books in this series and wouldn’t recommend it. I think Neill’s Chicagoland series has also taken a turn for the worse in the last couple books; I am not sure if Neill’s writing style is shifting or if I am just growing out of it.
    • 4/5
      Listened for Fun (Audible)Overall Rating: 3.50Story Rating: 3.50Character Rating: 3.50Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)First Thought when Finished: Strong ending to The Veil by Chloe Neill makes me excited for Book 2.Overall Thoughts: This will be another list review as I can't think of a better way to get my thoughts across.What I liked:1) The world was freaking awesome and not just because it was set in New Orleans. I liked the, for lack of a better description, carnival feel to it. By that I mean it was a band of people thrown together that were in ways different (class, rank, personality, power) but having to deal with their circumstance (some good, some bad, some downright despicable) in a bit of a fishbowl type of way. 2) The characters were wide and varied! In UF I tend to like when there are characters with various shades of Good to Bad. Particularly if it is because of environment. There are many in this series that I am not sure where they stand but I could see myself rooting for them. I could also see myself wanting to throw a shoe at them.3) I really liked Claire! I felt she had spunk but she also was level-headed. She had a strong sense of loyalty towards her friends but balanced that out with just the right amount of self-preservation. Her arc was my favorite.What I was on the fence about:1) The story was a bit uneven to me but that happens a lot in Urban Fantasy during the first few books. Usually if there is good character development, the story kind of comes in clumps. It was just choppy at times and other times I felt it was little too convenient. I did really like the end though! 2) The tone was a little uneven in the beginning but by the halfway point I think it worked itself out. It might have been planned that way but it kind of distracted me a bit.Overall this was a good read with a strong ending that makes me excited to read more. Audio ThoughtsNarrated By Amy Landon / Length: 10 hrs and 9 minsI really like Amy Landon so I wasn't surprised that she did a good job with this. I think she played Claire right because she is a good mix of still young but full of life experience. I even liked her voice for Liam. I will be continuing this in audio.
    • 4/5
      Set in New Orleans after a war when the Veil between this world and a more magical one opened and paranormals and magic flooded our world, all paranormals and everything having to do with magic is considered the enemy. Devil’s Isle is an area in New Orleans that was converted into a prison for anyone that can do any type of magic. There is a great deal of world building and some politics involving The Containment, an organization hired by the government to find those with magical abilities and get them in Devil’s Isle. Only it turns out that what everyone has been told isn’t quite true. Claire, a Sensitive in hiding with telekinetic abilities ends up in the middle of it when saving a girl who was being attacked by a couple of wraiths. Now she’s on the radar and finds that another war is brewing. This is vastly different from the author’s vampire series, both in the world building as well as how the story and a relationship flows. The world and character building are believable. Claire and those closest to her are people you would like in your own life. The overall theme with keeping under cover adds a level of tension that you’ll feel through Claire. And while this book wraps up the most immediate threat, it’s obvious that there is a lot more story to tell. For me, the story did drag a little in places, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next release.
    • 3/5
      I have always intended to read Chloe Neill's popular Chicagoland Vampires series but never found the time, so I leapt at the chance to read The Veil, the first book her new Devil's Isle series.It has been seven years since the Veil between New Orleans and the supernatural world was torn open permitting the egress of paranormals determined to enslave or wipe out humanity. War raged for a year, leaving thousands dead and the land scarred before the Veil was closed. Magic was banned and the Para's who survived incarcerated in a neighborhood adjoining The French Quarter, nicknamed Devil's Isle.Claire Connolly owns and runs an antique and supply store, inherited from her late father, at was what 'ground zero'. She refuses to abandon the family store and leave New Orleans even though she risks everything to stay, for after the Veil was reinstated, Claire discovered she was a 'sensitive', a human with the ability to wield magic, and discovery would mean 'containment'.But when Claire witnesses a woman being attacked by two wraiths (sensitives that have been overwhelmed by their magic) she intervenes and to save herself must use her magic. Certain she will be arrested and imprisoned, assistance comes from an unexpected source, bounty hunter Liam Quinn, who not only helps destroy the evidence of her actions, but also finds her a mentor to teach her to harness her magic.Walking a fine line between remaining hidden and discovery, everything changes when Claire and Liam discover a dangerous plot to reopen the Veil.Though New Orleans isn't an unique setting, Neil's worldbuilding is solid. The society has dystopian elements what with almost martial law and street level magic monitoring, and there also an apocalyptic feel given the scorched earth, ruined buildings and communication issues.There is quite a lot of information to digest in The Veil, including the history of the war, the current status of New Orleans society, the make up of Para's, and the motives of the Beyond. I felt Neil integrated the details well for most part, maintaining a good pace and advancing the plot.The characters are likeable, Claire is stubborn, resourceful and she has a close knit group of friends that are her substitute family. Liam is essentially a loner, especially since losing his sister. As a bounty hunter he can move quite freely between New Orleans and Devil's Isle where his grandmother is and he has, if not friends then sources, such as Moses, a computer hacker with horns. The attraction between Claire and Liam is immediate and inevitable, and a strong element of the plot.Though I'm not irreversibly hooked, I did enjoy The Veil. It's a quick and engaging read and I will most likely pick up the next.
    • 4/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: A bit slow to start but overall it was an entertaining read.Opening Sentence: The French Quarter was thinking about war again.The Review:The Veil is the newest title by Chloe Neill. It is set in a world where a dimensional tear brought magic and paranormal creatures through a veil into our world. The Veil is a great start to a new and different urban fantasy world. I am looking forward to all the things this world could bring in the coming books. (Side note: This is my first Chloe Neill book.)Seven years have passed since the Veil was officially opened between our world and the magical one. When it ripped apart, the war to fight off the supernatural creatures tore the southern states apart leaving them as disaster areas. New Orleans is in bad shape but the remaining residents have done what they can to survive and help restore New Orleans. Magic has really done a toll on the land making it hard to grow crops and magic also knocks out electricity on a daily basis. The one new fixture in New Orleans is Devil’s Isle, the prison which hold supernatural prisoners of war and Sensitives, humans who have gained magical abilities because of the Veil.Claire Connelly is a Sensitive. She withholds the information from her friends because it could get her sent to Devil’s Isle. In the meantime, she operates her father’s general store that passed to her when he died during the war. Claire is afraid of anyone finding out about her abilities because Devil’s Isle frightens her. There are camera’s mounted everywhere that are activated whenever magical abilities are manifested so chances are that she could be found out. When a girl is attacked by wraiths (sensitives who have basically turned into zombie-like creatures by magical drain or too much magic, I’m still a little confused by that one) Claire steps in to help save her. Only Claire uses her telepathy and it is caught on tape and witnessed by Liam.Liam Quinn is a bounty hunter. He captures Sensitives, wraiths and Paras. He is intrigued by Claire and how she used her ability to save someone. He introduces Claire into a world that she thought was only one sided and teaches her how Paras aren’t all bad. He also helps her try to get her abilities under control so that they don’t take her over one day.The Veil does start off a little slow with setting up the world before getting into the mystery of why there are so many wraith attacks. I felt like she was setting up the nuances of the world before getting into the meat of the story. There is some action interspersed throughout the story.I like Claire in the fact that she cared about her community and was doing what she could to keep her business going and help out the people who stayed in New Orleans. She had a bit of immaturity about her but I think that the war made her grow up faster then she may have wanted. She has adapted to her new world without too many complaints.I thought Liam was a bit hot but incredibly frustrating. He kept giving Claire signals then shutting them down. I could sense a bit of chemistry there but I hope the fire gets burning in the next book in this series. Although, I was secretly hoping there might be something between Claire and the Angel.Overall, The Veil could be a great new series with its dystopian like setting. I was really fascinated by something that happened in the end and I can’t wait to see if that plays out anytime soon.Notable Scene:“I used to walk the houses,” he said.I glanced at him. His gaze was on a small carriage house lined against the sidewalk, its door yawning open. “Walk them?”“The empty ones. I’d let myself in—”“As you like to do.”He snorted. “The store’s door was unlocked. As for the houses, I never went through a locked door. Didn’t want anyone looting behind me. But if I had time to kill, and a door was unlocked, I’d walk through. Take a look. See how they lived. What their lives were like.”That was a side of Liam Quinn I wouldn’t have expected to see. “And what were they like?”He frowned, considered. “Some of the houses were completely empty. They’d taken everything they could. In others, it was like, I don’t know, spying on someone’s life. There were still clothes in the closets. Magazines on the coffee table. Toys in the kids’ rooms. The beds were made up. Lot more mildew, sometimes mold, because of the humidity, but otherwise— they were just houses. I wondered where the people went.”“Did you ever take anything?”“No, but I’ve thought about it. Closest I’ve come was a house in Gentilly. I’d been tracking a wraith, lost him, but saw this house and went inside. Most of it was packed up— you could tell they’d left— but they’d left behind a few things. Big furniture. Mirrors. Some toys and sports equipment. And in one room— looked like the dad’s office— there were model airplanes hanging from the ceiling, probably a dozen of them. Lot of work went into them. I thought about liberating one. Seemed a shame all that work was going to waste.”“So why didn’t you take it?”He shrugged. “Because maybe they’ll come back one day. Or maybe the kids will. And those memories should be there for them. Should belong to them. Not to me.”I could practically feel my heart melting. “You know, you play the tough guy, but I think you’ve got a pretty gooey heart in there, Quinn.”FTC Advisory: NAL/Penguin provided me with a copy of The Veil. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 4/5
      Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires novels have a prominent place on my bookshelf so when I saw that she had a new series coming out, I knew I would be reading it as soon as I could get my hands on it. The setting was a big plus for me. I have never been to New Orleans, but have read a lot about it and I found Chloe's version of New Orleans to be very interesting and easy to follow. I enjoyed the post-apocalyptic/Dystopian feel as well as the whole Devil's Isle aspect of the city. The Fae storyline was interesting and I found myself looking forward to more details as I was reading.For some reason I wasn't overly invested in the main characters and actually connected to a few of the secondary characters quicker, which is a bit weird to me. That's not to say I didn't LIKE the main characters, I did, I just would have liked to feel more invested in them by the end of the book. There was some romance between Claire and Liam, which I actually enjoyed quite a bit. Liam held himself back a lot and it takes a bit for us to find out why, but I was rooting for their relationship (and still am moving forward).Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series is still my favorite of hers, but I really enjoyed the introduction the Devil's Isle series and I am very interested in seeing what will happen next for Claire and Liam. * This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      I’m a huge fan of Chloe Neill’s Chicago Vampires Series. I was ecstatic when I found out she was releasing a new series. The Veil is extremely different than Chicago Vampires, which is good because it is a distinct series and not a spin off. I wasn’t really sure how much I was going to like it when I initially started reading it. I think that happens a lot with a first book of a series. A lot of background information needs to be set in order for the series to come to life. The more I read this book the better it got. By the time I got to the end, I was disappointed that it was over and anxious to read the next book. I started to feel really invested in the characters. The story takes place in New Orleans seven years after “The Veil” was torn, opening a doorway to a supernatural world that started a war against humanity. Some humans called Sensitives are gifted (or cursed) with magic that seeps through the Veil. Now seven years later, any paranormal being, including Sensitives, that are found are imprisoned in Devil's Isle. Our heroine and Sensitive, Claire Connolly, is attempting to hide from that fate. Simultaneously, something is going on that is threatening to reopen the Veil.I loved Claire. Her family is gone, but she developed some great friends. She is selfless and really cares about what happens to New Orleans and its people. She discovered she was a Sensitive eight months before the start of this story. She needs to learn how to control and hide her powers, enter Liam Quinn.Liam is everything you could want in an Alpha Bounty Hunter. He has some personal issues that make him realistic and intriguing. He helps Claire and introduces her to some people that can teach her to control her powers. Through him, she discovers that not everything she has been told is what it seems. The plot was carefully thought out with lots of foreshadowing. The story becomes more intricate and exhilarating as it goes on. The Veil has a satisfying ending. Chloe Neill creating an excellent foundation to the Devil's Isle Series; she did such an amazing job with her character development and story line that I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. The better we got to know them, the more I fell in love with Claire and Liam. Complimentary copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Total newcomer to Chloe Neill here, so I had no idea what to expect when I started the first installment of her new Devil’s Isle series. Being peripherally aware of her Chicagoland Vampires books though, I knew enough to prepare myself for a fun urban fantasy story, and I was right. Leaving aside a shaky start and a couple rough edges, The Veil is a pretty solid introduction to a brand new post-apocalyptic world featuring an intriguing protagonist.Her name is Claire Connolly, just another young woman trying to survive in post-war New Orleans running her late father’s antique shop (which sells more emergency batteries and MREs than furniture these days). She’s also a Sensitive, someone endowed with the magic which seeped through the Veil when the Paranormals came through seven years ago to wage war on humanity. It’s a secret she guards closely, for if anyone discovers her powers she could end up in Devil’s Isle, a prison for Sensitives and other stray Paras trapped in this world after the fighting was done.However, keeping her secret also left Claire untrained and unable to control her magic. When bounty hunter Liam Quinn discovers the truth about her, he wastes no time finding her a mentor before the magic can consume Claire and turn her into a wraith like the one that killed his sister. But then strange things start happening to the Veil, which has remained closed for many years now, and Claire and Liam stumble upon a plot to plunge what is left of NOLA back into conflict with the Paranormals, a threat they and their friends must stop in order to prevent more death and destruction on all sides.I confess, this book and I didn’t exactly start off on the right foot. If things like large swaths of infodumps bother you, then you might experience some of the same difficulties I had with the introduction. Claire’s story about how she discovered her powers, along with the entire history of the war with the Paras following the opening of the Veil were unceremoniously crammed into the first handful of pages, without much effort to make the deluge of details less awkward or obtrusive. However, the book also started with a party, with the characters celebrating the not-so-imaginatively named War Night, a day which commemorates the survival of New Orleans after one of the biggest battles towards the end of the war. New Orleans is a city that ranks high among my favorite urban fantasy book settings, so it was really hard to resist the boisterous and frenetic atmosphere where everyone just wants to have fun and forget the hardships of everyday life. Even though the city is a shadow of what it once was, the spirit of its people is alive and well.My impressions of the story also improved a lot as it progressed, once we were through with laying down the groundwork. I wouldn’t say the premise is anything unprecedented and there are admittedly a few kinks in the world-building that need ironing out or expanding, but on the whole I had a good time with this book. I enjoyed Claire as a protagonist, even if she is still feeling rather generic at this point, but I do look forward to seeing her develop more of a personality as the series progresses. The character of Liam Quinn, on the other hand, I really loved; when we first met him I immediately pegged him for a cookie-cutter UF love interest, one of those mysterious and smoldering tall, dark, handsome (and boring!) types -- but turns out, I couldn’t be more wrong. He’s the character I found most likely to surprise me by going against my expectations, which immediately made him the most interesting in my eyes. I was also astonished (but not entire unhappy) to see that the romance is relatively understated. The priority here is the overall story, and Chloe Neill really takes no-nonsense approach to pacing by limiting the superfluous drama, instead focusing on driving the plot forward so that I never lost interest.All told, The Veil may not be breaking any new ground, but I found it satisfying and entertaining. I’m curious to see where the author will go with the world-building, but what I’m most interested in is the potential in these characters. I’m definitely on board for the next book.
    • 4/5
      This was a good start to a new series. I have only read one other book by Chloe Neill so I thought that this would be a great chance to jump into a new series just as it is beginning. The book was good but it lacked the something extra that makes a book great. Every time I start reading a book, I always hope that it will be one of those books that I can't get out of my mind and have a difficult time putting it down. This wasn't that kind of book. I liked this book but I didn't fall in love with it.I liked the overall premise of this story. I found the world to unique and interesting. I think that this book may have fallen victim to the first book syndrome that often occurs with the start of a new Urban Fiction or Paranormal series. I did actually find that the second half of the book moved a lot faster for me after a lot of the background information for the world had been covered. I like the fact that the main characters, Claire and Liam, are for the most part "normal." Okay, Claire is not completely normal but she was such a likable character. I really liked all of the characters in this story. Liam knows how to handle himself and I liked how he shared everything with Claire. Moses was great - I really hope that we get to see more of him in future installments in the series. Liam's family and Claire's friends all seemed to add to the story. This book did a great job of laying the foundation for a really exciting series. The cast of characters are colorful and very likable. The story is set in New Orleans which is such a vibrant and exciting city which adds an interesting element. The world is a little different than other books that I have read but it includes so many elements that I found familiar. This book didn't really have a lot of romance but I really liked the sexual tension between Liam and Claire and hope to see that explored as the series progresses.I would recommend this book to fans of Urban Fiction and paranormal stories. I really like Chloe Neill's style of writing and think that this is a solid start to a new series. I am really looking forward to continuing with this series. I received an advance reader edition of this book from Penguin Publishing Group via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.